Add to this that base rate has been held at 0.5% for a second month, the FTSE100 is up 21% since the start of the year and RBS has managed to only lose £897m in the last 3 months (bonuses all round), it would be a glass-half-empty reaction indeed not to feel the smallest glimmer of hope.

A lot of this so called 'good news' is based on slowing rates of decline rather than a return to growth, but could we at least say that we are bumping along a rather stony bottom?

Like many of the small businesses that we meet, we are not experiencing a catastrophic downturn. The decision making process remains protracted, but the enormous fear that has prevailed since last October is subsiding.